A/N: So, the useful thing about writing is that if you're on your lunch break, and it's seventy degrees outside and you reeeeeeeally just want to skip math and enjoy the weather, you can just write about other people skipping math to enjoy the weather and live vicariously through them. :P

Song lyrics at the beginning and sung by Zander are from the song ""Lay Down" by O.A.R.

but it's too loud on the earth today
so let's go home and lay it down

"I don't feel like going to math today," he says to her in the hall, leaning up against the locker next to hers.

She regards him from beneath the brim of her hat as she swaps her Spanish textbook for her math one. "Okay?"

"What about you?" he presses.

Her locker shuts with a clank and she shakes her head. "Well, of course I don't, but-" Before she can finish her sentence he's slipping his hand into hers, tugging her down the hall. "Zander, class is the other way."

"Let's go."

"What do you mean, 'let's go?'" She stops walking and pulls her hand away, giving him the most serious look she can muster. He makes another grab for her hand, but she folds her arms so that her textbook is crushed against her chest. "Zander. I'm not ditching class." Zander doesn't say a word, just laughs and raises his eyebrows at her. "No. No!"

"Come on, Stevie, live a little." He tilts his head. "Think about it. Which day are you going to remember in twenty years: the day you spent reviewing soh-cah-toa, or the day you spent out in weather like this-" he points out through the skylight at the baby blue, cloudless sky, "-when you could've been in class?" She chews her lip thoughtfully as Zander offers his hand to her again. After a moment, she takes it.

"If we get caught, I'm throwing you under the bus."

"We won't get caught."

They almost do get caught just before they get outside, but Zander yanks her into an empty hall just before they're seen and then they're sprinting the other direction, looping around until they make it back to the front doors. The two of them slip through as quietly as possible, waiting until the doors shut all the way before breaking into a run. By the time they make it off the school grounds they're breathing heavily, and they drop each other's hand, wiping their sweaty palms on their jeans. She catches Zander's eye and they burst into giddy, relieved giggles, high on the adrenaline of their successful escape attempt.

Twenty minutes later they're sinking down in the shade of a willow tree with a bag of sandwiches and soda they picked up from the nearby gas station. Stevie divvies up the food while Zander plucks out some notes on his ukulele. The park is nearly empty and there's no breeze to rustle the leaves, so the tune seems to extend out beyond them, filling all the invisible space.

"You know, you left your bag at school," Stevie says around a mouthful of tuna and bread.

"Manners," Zander chides, but he's grinning. "Yeah, well, I'm not sure I actually expected you to agree."

"You're not the only one." She passes him a sandwich and he sets his ukulele aside carefully to take it from her.

There's silence for a while as they eat – the comfortable kind that passes between people who don't always need words to say things. When Stevie finishes she flops back in the grass, the blades cool against her bare arms. She closes her eyes, breathes in deeply the smell of sun.

"My parents will kill me if they find out," she mumbles.

"Your mom will high-five you while your dad isn't looking, and you know it," Zander tells her, and she giggles.

The heat makes her comfortable and drowsy – it's perfect weather, the kind of warmth that seeps into your skin and bones instead of lying heavy on you a blanket – and she's just about to drift off when Zander starts to play again and she's pulled back into consciousness.

"There was a time now it's far away, I didn't know you, but I knew your name…."

She keeps her eyes closed as she listens to him sing, because it's easier for the sound to fill her that way.

"But it's too loud here on the Earth today, so let's go home and lay it down…."

As the last note fades out, she speaks into the space it leaves behind. "Zander?"

"Wasn't sure if you were awake or not," he says, and when she opens her eyes and tilts her head to look at him he looks almost apologetic.

"I'm glad I came."

He reaches out, musses her hair a little. "Me too."